Still man...from freeware to Miyamoto...this thread has indeed gone a long way
-Paul Keith
indeed, it seems to have gone from being in danger of veering off topic to jumping the fence and running screaming into the trees
While the discussions on the various definitions of freeware may be passingly interesting I've got to say I don't understand the logic at all (this is what happens when marketing professionals or accountants get involved in things).
The definition is right there in the title - free ware.
A reasonable definition would say that any
functional software freely made available without the requirement for a monetary exchange would certainly qualify (the inclusion of ad's or malware or whatever notwithstanding).
Provided the software isn't crippled to the point that it can't be used for it's intended function then the user is getting free software. The amount of
value the user gets out of it is another issue (and depending on your respective measures/intent, a measure of success)
Going back to the OP, it would seem contradictary to promote your software as freeware then expect it to generate any sort of compensation. There's nothing wrong with generating freeware to promote yourself as a consultant, but that would be quite separate to the freeware side of your activities
And donations, while welcome, are not guaranteed. They're an indication of value relative to that particular user (only) and as such are usually once off's, so even less likely to generate any sort of reliable income.
Similarly it doesn't seem to gel that you as a freeware developer are under any sort of obligation to provide support or regular 'upgrades' for your freeware.
These activities are by their very nature resource intensive and unless
- you are sufficiently wealthy that you don't need to work for a living, and
- you don't mind spending all your time answering inane requests to include irrelevant functionality, or
- you have access to a team of people that can share the load
then it's unlikely that you are going to be able to maintain them for very long (at the very least you're probably going to end up losing all interest in the project). Of course this presupposes a substantial user base...
That's not to say that you shouldn't do it, just that you should recognise the cost/benefit value of your support activities and treat them accordingly
With respect to transparency and honesty, I suspect this is more an expectation for consumers than it is for developers, ie I want to know if your application is going to include XYZ toolbar, a search engine, or some other unrelated piece of software. I'm not really interested in your motivation for developing a given application (though it may be a good story). I am interested in whether or not you might be trustworthy/ethical (I may want to employ you)
Recent Posts
). Trouble here is that unless you're newfound userbase is enthusiastic and vocal, you're unlikely to ever hear about it
